literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "Daughters of Sparta" by Claire Heywood
I have read many, many different retold stories of Greek Mythology. My favourites include but are not limited to: A Thousand Ships, Pandora's Jar, Stone Blind, The Children of Jocasta and Divine Might - all by the legendary Natalie Haynes. Then there is Ariadne and Elektra by Jennifer Saint. After this there is Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati and obviously any book by Madeline Miller or Mary Renault. When it comes to books about mythology or mythological retellings, the one thing I respect is the attention to story and truth. There are certain truths explored in each Ancient Myth on which the foundations of societies were once formed, built and constructed. I have to say though, after reading Daughters of Sparta, I am now in two minds about whether giving this a go after such great mythological retellings and explorations of truth was such a good idea after all.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "The Drift" by C.J Tudor
A couple of years ago, I read The Chalk Man by C.J Tudor and not only was I impressed at the difference to your everyday psychological thriller, but I was also impressed at the attention to the writing style. Usually, a psychological thriller is far more interested in telling the story, setting the pace and twists and turns than it is in actually making for really good writing. But, C.J Tudor proves that great writing can make all the difference as well. In Tbe Drift, C.J Tudor not only proves that great writing is important yet again, but also shows how she can write in several different tones in order to create some very memorable characters with twists that are entirely unexpected.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "Suddenly at His Residence" by Christianna Brand
The British Library Crime Classics are a series of books edited by Martin Edwards which are mainly novels both famous and assumed lost from the golden age of British Crime. This means that more than often you will find stereotypes and even more than often, links, crosses and similarities between them. This does not mean that they are badly written for, at the time, there were certain tropes that were part of popular fiction. The golden age of crime is a wide and expansive time and place of novels with the most obvious ranging from Agatha Christie and across the water there was Dashiell Hammett, all the way down to a woman I have never heard of: Christianna Brand.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "1722" by Amy Cross
As I have said before, reading horror makes me feel at ease because I know that whatever I am about the read has come out of the consciousness of someone who is intentionally trying to frighten people. As I have also said before, whatever horror you are thinking about making it is best if the storyline is essentially simple because that way, you can develop twists and turns. If your storyline is too complex to begin with, your audience/reader won't even care if there are twists and turns because they will be too busy trying to figure out what the story is and who all of these zombies are. For those of you who recognised the reference to the story by Heinlein, good for you.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "Our Haunted Shores" ed. by Emily Alder et al.
Full Title: Our Haunted Shores: Tales from the Coasts of the British Isles by Emily Alder, Jimmy Packham and Joan Passey As we have all known for a while now, my love for the British Library Tales of the Weird is pretty expansive. I love reading scary stories, some of which have no author named, others only published in Blackwood's Magazine and everything in between. The anthologies often cover a vast amount of different stories on a particularly weird theme. My recent reads in the series have included The Uncanny Gastronomic and Dead Drunk - both of which I have enjoyed a lot. This anthology I have just read is entitled Our Haunted Shores: Tales from the Coasts of the British Isles and is especially weird for me because I thoroughly dislike beaches and coasts (but mainly I dislike beaches) so everything in here only justifies my discontent with the beach. However, that is not to say it isn't frightening and weird at some points.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "Normal Women" by Philippa Gregory
Full Title: Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History by Philippa Gregory As you may or may not know by now, I have practically read everything that Philippa Gregory has ever written. As my favourite living writer, she has made a career out of writing some incredible historical fiction about figures I would have never dreamed were worthy enough of telling the stories of. Philippa Gregory proved me wrong and wrote one of the most endearing works of historical fiction ever (in my humble opinion) - The Lady of the Rivers. Now, although my favourite book by Philippa Gregory is The Wise Woman, The Lady of the Rivers is a close second with The King's Curse being third.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" by Judi Dench
Is it true that when Trevor was asked if the Macbeths were the Nixons... He said, "No, they're the Kennedys." They're the golden couple. They adore each other. And she'll do anything for him. If he wants to be king then it'll come to pass. 'You are glamis, you are Cawdor, and we know what's been promised next. You're going to be the effing King, darling.'
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "Hidden Pictures" by Jason Rekulak
I have read many different thriller books over my time and some have been brilliant and others, not so much. Modern thrillers tend to follow some rules and by doing this, it makes them seem almost boring. Many of them are books I feel like I can predict in the first few chapters and therefore, there is no denying I will be giving it a slightly more negative review. However, I have found a niche of modern thrillers in which have many twists and turns, more atmosphere and a slight mixture of horror - this does not mean they are definitely good but it might mean that they have something more to offer than the simple modern thriller.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "The Uncanny Gastronomic" ed. by Zara-Louise Stubbs
Full Title: The Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird edited by Zara-Louise Stubbs As you know by now, I love the British Library Tales of the Weird books and this one is no exception whatsoever. The Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird is perhaps one of the most varied books in the series I have read. With a ton of different kinds of stories, there are a few that stand out amongst the rest but also, each one has its own personality. From the absolutely horrifying to the darkly comical, these books often have an anthology quality in which the text is set on a theme. For this, we have food. From Robert Browning to Franz Kafka, from Shirley Jackson to Christina Rossetti, Saki, Angela Carter and even Jim Crace, this book is packed full of brilliant writers on the theme of food and eating in which we are given multiple different types of horrific texts that add to a truly creepy experience.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksThe Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a new film by Wes Anderson, is now streaming on Netflix. The film is the first in a quartet of short films adapted from the works of British writer Roald Dahl.
Brent J. SmithPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "1689" by Amy Cross
Now, when it comes to horror novels I like as always, to keep it nice and simple. I do not want a convoluted story filled with millions of characters, that's what the drama novels are for, or even literary fiction. A horror novel needs to keep its storyline nice and simple so that it can be expanded in some really interesting ways. In this novel by Amy Cross, the author explores several different avenues of horror all involving a simple case of a possibly haunted house aligned perfectly with aspects of revenge tragedy.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in GeeksBook Review: "Dead Drunk" ed. by Pam Lock
Full Title: Dead Drunk: Tales of Intoxication and Demon Drinks edited by Pam Lock As we all know, under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, people turn into something else entirely. Some become happy, some become sad, some become loud, some go quiet and some turn into monsters. In this book edited by Pam Lock, we look at the interpretation of that from the Victorian Age primarily and see through the eyes of the past, the horrors that went wrong under the influence. From spectral stories to guilt trips of the worst kind, from Robert Louis Stevenson to Anthony Trollope, from simple drinking down to bawdy drunkeness. This book explores some of those stories that we tell amongst the horrors of ingesting the world's most acceptable toxic liquid.
Annie KapurPublished 5 months ago in Geeks